Spicy Curry Popcorn

Fresh popcorn tossed with butter, brown sugar, and medley of curry-inspired spices - this snack strikes a truly addicting balance between spicy and sweet. If you're not sure about heat, reduce the cayenne pepper. But if you're all about the burn, go to town!

Spicy Curry Popcorn

Popcorn has been one of my favorite snacks for as long as I can remember. Growing up, I’m pretty sure we enjoyed it most every evening. Nowadays, Friday is movie and popcorn night – and most of the time, our otherwise picky toddler is more excited about the snack than whatever flick we’ve decided on.

I mean, what’s not to love about popcorn? It’s a whole, real food. It’s bite-sized, crunchy, perfect with a little drizzle of butter and a sprinkle of fine salt – but also divine when you take it over the top with an army of spices, as is the case with this Spicy Curry Popcorn.

It’s established: We’re popcorn fans around here. So naturally, when the opportunity to create a recipe celebrating JOLLY TIME Pop Corn’s 100th birthday came around, I was totally in.

Over the years, JOLLY TIME Pop Corn kernels have often found their way into my shopping cart. But after learning a little more about the company through this project, I can say I’m now officially a devoted customer. Here are a couple of fun facts that I learned – I thought you might find them interesting, too:

Corn is one of those foods that can get a bad rap for being genetically modified, but guess what? All of JOLLY TIME’s Pop Corn is made with non-GMO popcorn. Awesome, right?

And through the years – all 100 of them – JOLLY TIME has remained a family-owned company that keeps up with the latest in popcorn but still maintains old-fashioned ideals – for instance, if you ever need to call JOLLY TIME, a real live person will always answer the phone. Totally refreshing. (Here’s a fun interactive journey through JOLLY TIME’s history, if you’d like to learn more).

So about this recipe! I’ve been making variations of curried popcorn for a while now, but I thought it was high time I perfected the recipe and made it official for this post.

I wanted this curry popcorn recipe to strike the perfect balance between heat and sweet – an overall spicy concoction that would keep revelers reaching into the bowl for more, more, more.

While this recipe contains brown sugar, it is far more savory than sweet, with just enough brown sugar to tame the heat while also highlighting the curry flavors like coriander, cumin, and cinnamon. Occasionally, you do get a sweet-ish piece that’s a little heavy on the brown sugar and spices. But trust me – those are the best pieces of all. Kind of like a curried caramel corn.

So, yes! Lots of spices! And totally worth it.

Oh, and speaking of spices, you know I couldn’t leave out the turmeric. (Bonus: the golden spice turns the popcorn a pleasing movie-theater-butter yellow – naturally!)

Another thing I love about this recipe, other than it being addictively delicious, is that it’s ridiculously easy to make. While the popcorn pops, you melt the butter, sugar, and spices together. Then just toss with the popped corn and you’re snacking with the best of them, all fancy-like, inside of 10 minutes.

Totally birthday party worthy, I think. I’d probably even choose a bowl of this over birthday cake.

Spicy Curry Popcorn

Prep:5 minutes

Cook:5 minutes

Total:10 minutes

Fresh popcorn tossed with butter, brown sugar, and medley of curry-inspired spices - this snack strikes a truly addicting balance between spicy and sweet. If you're not sure about heat, reduce the cayenne pepper. But if you're all about the burn, go to town!

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons coconut oil

1/2 cup JOLLY TIME Pop Corn kernels

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (use less for less heat)

1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste

Directions:

Pop the popcorn, following manufacturer instructions for your particular popper. We have an old-fashioned style popper that takes two tablespoons oil. I use coconut oil which I account for in the recipe. You can also pop it in a large pot over the stove. If you use an air-popper, you won't use the oil.

While the popcorn pops, set a small saucepan set over medium heat. Add the butter, brown sugar, spices, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Stir until combined. Bring just to a boil and remove from heat. Note: if your particular popping method or popper requires close supervision, save this step until after your popcorn is popped.

Transfer popcorn to a large bowl. Drizzle butter and spice mixture over popcorn, pausing to toss occasionally, until the popcorn is coated. Allow to cool for a couple of minutes, then serve.

We love a big bowl of popcorn at our house – especially when we are involved in epic Scrabble battles! I can’t wait to make this one to fuel our next match. All those spices sound divine. And as my Mama always said: popcorn is a dinner food. But only when you serve it with a side of m&ms 😉

I love giving homemade christmas gifts. i always make hot chocolate spoons but this year wanted to add something else to the gift. i came across this recipe and have made an enormous batch for the staff at work. it tastes amazing!! can’t wait for their feedback. Thank you 🙂

Reviews

I love giving homemade christmas gifts. i always make hot chocolate spoons but this year wanted to add something else to the gift. i came across this recipe and have made an enormous batch for the staff at work. it tastes amazing!! can’t wait for their feedback. Thank you 🙂